The World Health Organization (WHO) lists antimicrobial resistance (AMR) as one of the most pressing health threats facing the world. In 2019, 1.27 million lives were lost to AMR.1
Antimicrobial stewardship and infection prevention and control (IPC) measures, 2 areas where medical microbiologists and virologists lead, are vital to tackle antimicrobial resistance, as the spread of drug-resistant infections is accelerated by the inappropriate use of antimicrobial medicines and poor IPC practices.
As Dr Natasha Ratnaraja, Consultant in Infection and Chair of the Joint Medical Microbiology and Medical Virology Specialty Advisory Commitee (SAC) explains: "Prevention and control measures to reduce the burden of infection are key in the fight against antimicrobial resistance. Our duties include advising on and implementing local control of infection policies, antimicrobial stewardship, and detecting, investigating and managing outbreaks in hospitals and the community".
To ensure they can continue to provide this critical expertise and contribute to national and international strategies to reduce AMR, the College has produced a position statement that calls for a series of actions to be implemented.
College AMR postion statement
Read the full postion statement here.
Reference
1. Antimicrobial resistance collaborators. Global burden of bacterial antimicrobial resistance in 2019: a systematic analysis. The Lancet 2022;399:629–655.
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